<firstimage=”//cdn.makeuseof.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/playonlinuxoffice-logo.png”>“Play On Linux” may sound like a toy, but if you want Microsoft Office working on your Linux machine it’s a seriously useful program to have around. User generated scripts make light work of the usually complicated process of installing Office in Linux: there’s no manually installing DLLs, no figuring out which version of Wine will work and no manually installing Internet Explorer to get everything working.

Love it or hate it, the fact is that Microsoft’s suite of office software is a necessary part of many people’s workflow. Some need total document compatibility with Office file formats; others rely on features not yet implemented by Open Office.

Last week we explored how PlayOnLinux makes it easy to install Windows games on Linux, mentioning briefly that the software also works with some serious software as well as games. As it turns out, among this serious software is Microsoft Office 2000, 2003 and 2007. Whether you’re looking to install Microsoft Office 2007 in Ubuntu or any other major Linux distribution, PlayOnLinux has you covered.

Insert Your CD

Insert your Microsoft Office CD, if you have one. You need to figure out the CD’s mount point, so that you can correctly point PlayOnLinux toward it. Open your file browser of choice and browse to your CD. Press “Ctl” and “L”, and you should see the location of your CD within your computer’s file structure. Copy this and you’ll be ready to paste it during the installation process.

If you’re a netbook user, or if you’re a student who downloaded an Office ISO through your school’s partnership with Microsoft, it’s simplest to simply extract all files from the Office CD and then copy the path to the folder you’ve extracted everything into. This worked perfectly on my netbook.

The Installation Process

Now the fun begins. Go back to your PlayOnLinux window and double-click the version of Office you want to install. This will begin the installation procedure. One of the first things you’ll be asked for is the location of your Microsoft Office CD:

If you see your CD here, great: just click it. If not, click “Other” and paste the location you found in the above step. From here on out everything should be smooth sailing: the program will install everything Microsoft Office needs to run, including Internet Explorer and the Microsoft fonts.

All you need to do is click “Next” a few times, and enter your Office product key. At the end you’ll be asked whether you want menu or desktop shortcuts for various Office elements. Choose where you want what and you should be good to go.

If you’re not asked about shortcuts it’s safe to assume the process didn’t finish for some reason. Don’t panic; just try again. On one of the systems I tested this process on I needed to repeat all steps, but everything worked perfectly after I did.

Conclusion

Getting software from one platform working on another is, by nature, complicated. PlayOnLinux takes a lot of this complication away, and it’s completely free. All I know is that I can now use Microsoft Word to edit manuals from my Mac and Windows friends using only my netbook, and that’s a blessing.

Do you think this process works well? Share your experience in the comments below. Alternatively, feel free to flame me for suggesting Linux users may occasionally want to use Microsoft Office instead of the ideologically pure alternatives.

Yeah, this is a week point of Wine. It takes up user space for the virtual filestructure, meaning it's only really accessible to the user who installed the software. It doesn't come up often because most Linux users don't let anyone else touch their computer!

There is a hidden folder named ".playonlinux" in your home folder. I suggest changing the permissions of this folder, and then creating a symlink to this folder across all users. Let me know if you need any more help than that.

Is there any way that multiple users can use Office 2007. I just ran through the instructions and now have use of Office 2007, but only for my user! It doesn't show up for any other users. Do I have to install it for all users?

Yeah, this is a week point of Wine. It takes up user space for the virtual filestructure, meaning it's only really accessible to the user who installed the software. It doesn't come up often because most Linux users don't let anyone else touch their computer!

There is a hidden folder named ".playonlinux" in your home folder. I suggest changing the permissions of this folder, and then creating a symlink to this folder across all users. Let me know if you need any more help than that.

So to change permissions I would sudo /home/user/.playonlinux chmod 777? As far as a symlink would it be ln -s /home/user/.playonlinux? Where would I enter that command? Your guidance would be appreciated. Oh, and by the way, I am raising my family on Linux so I've got a lot of hands on my computer :) Thanks.

I think it's great news for me. I'm a trainer and need to jump in and out of different OS and applications - thats why I have a full range of OS's available in VBox. To be able to show students "this is how we can do it in MS Office or Open Office or Google Docs" is going to be very useful.

As a Linux user by choice, I'd love to say that we don't need Microsoft in our lives but come on everyone, it's a fact that we do. Just get over it and do your job in the most efficient way that suits your needs for the day. Hell, most of us could truthfully just use text editors for the majority of our work. In the case of Windows, they bundle Notepad into the cost of the OS :P
For me, I use Google Docs for most work and Open Office for finer grain documentation. Having grown up from Word in DOS, until Office 2003, I was very comfortable with the way things worked. Since Office 2007/2010, I can see some good features but really, do we need them?

I think it's great news for me. I'm a trainer and need to jump in and out of different OS and applications - thats why I have a full range of OS's available in VBox. To be able to show students "this is how we can do it in MS Office or Open Office or Google Docs" is going to be very useful.

As a Linux user by choice, I'd love to say that we don't need Microsoft in our lives but come on everyone, it's a fact that we do. Just get over it and do your job in the most efficient way that suits your needs for the day. Hell, most of us could truthfully just use text editors for the majority of our work. In the case of Windows, they bundle Notepad into the cost of the OS :PFor me, I use Google Docs for most work and Open Office for finer grain documentation. Having grown up from Word in DOS, until Office 2003, I was very comfortable with the way things worked. Since Office 2007/2010, I can see some good features but really, do we need them?

Don't you all know or realize that Microsoft products are built with a finite lifetime so that they need to be replaced every few years? Replacements are $100 or so, thus making Micro$oft wealthy. I understand the reasoning for this, but the reality of forced upgrades without file compatibility makes it hard to agree with when comparable systems are also available without the file incompatibility. Open Office and others work just fine on my W2K, XP and Linux (all distros and I have a bunch). I just recommended it to my boss (I'm a volunteer) to install on her home computer so she could read the office documents that MUST BE in WORD.

Don't you all know or realize that Microsoft products are built with a finite lifetime so that they need to be replaced every few years? Replacements are $100 or so, thus making Micro$oft wealthy. I understand the reasoning for this, but the reality of forced upgrades without file compatibility makes it hard to agree with when comparable systems are also available without the file incompatibility. Open Office and others work just fine on my W2K, XP and Linux (all distros and I have a bunch). I just recommended it to my boss (I'm a volunteer) to install on her home computer so she could read the office documents that MUST BE in WORD.

the ribbon bar sucks!! OOo rocks but the prob it lacks a few functionalities wich ms07 has like those stylish customisations... it can be dne on OOo but its tooo long unlike ms07 where its just few clicks away.

acc ro me both hv pros n cons, bth are good at their own categories, so using both is the best option available!!

the ribbon bar sucks!! OOo rocks but the prob it lacks a few functionalities wich ms07 has like those stylish customisations... it can be dne on OOo but its tooo long unlike ms07 where its just few clicks away.

acc ro me both hv pros n cons, bth are good at their own categories, so using both is the best option available!!

Honestly I wouldn't use Play on Linux to install Office anyway. You can use Crossover for Linux or the Free and Open version called Wine. Wine can be installed from the repo's in Ubuntu anyway.

Since I only use Access from the MS office suite anyway, that's all I have installed. I use OpenOffice for the rest of my documentation needs. I don't care how an app looks, as long as it does what I want it to do, and OpenOffice does that, except for the database part of the application. That needs a lot of updates and fixes before I can totally remove MS Office from my linux box.

I was asked the question yesterday can I use itunes on Ubuntu.I was unsure and told the person to go to our next lug meeting.I searched but for some reason came up empty.I now have an answer Thank you very much.Chris, Supplying Technology to At Risk Students. ( STARS )

Hi there,Nice trick and I am sure it may be another bone to throw to all those Linux nay-sayers or dare-nots. Anyway, I gave this a go on my Ubuntu installation and was rather taken by the uncompllicated nature of the process. A very smooth ride, indeed!

Now the downside. Of course MS Office 2007 wants to be activated, but once I clicked on the activate via internet button, no connection could be extablished. Shame. I then tried activate via telephone, but no response by the programme. So I did the usual - browsing the web, snooping through the odd forum and so on. It seems a comon problem that hasn't quite been cracked yet.

Honestly I wouldn't use Play on Linux to install Office anyway. You can use Crossover for Linux or the Free and Open version called Wine. Wine can be installed from the repo's in Ubuntu anyway.

Since I only use Access from the MS office suite anyway, that's all I have installed. I use OpenOffice for the rest of my documentation needs. I don't care how an app looks, as long as it does what I want it to do, and OpenOffice does that, except for the database part of the application. That needs a lot of updates and fixes before I can totally remove MS Office from my linux box.

There are reasons to want Office. I edit the manuals project here, and most of my writers are all using Word. Open Office's compatibility with Word is pretty good, but issues inevitably come up if you're going back and forth between Word and OO.o too much, particularly if you're doing a lot of fomatting.

And it's funny: Word is faster on my netbook than OO.o, even though it's running on Wine.

- Linux has Windows envy. Installing Windows Fonts, using Wine to run Windows Apps, and now, installing Microsoft Office. At the same time, they hate the "Evil Microsoft". You're sending mixed signals here. For all the vindication against "Evil Microsoft", you have a conflict of interest putting Microsoft stuff in Linux.

Maybe just purchase a nice Black Friday Laptop with Windows 7 in it? That saves you from a lot of trouble. And I'm not sarcastic here, I'm serious here.

There are reasons to want Office. I edit the manuals project here, and most of my writers are all using Word. Open Office's compatibility with Word is pretty good, but issues inevitably come up if you're going back and forth between Word and OO.o too much, particularly if you're doing a lot of fomatting.

And it's funny: Word is faster on my netbook than OO.o, even though it's running on Wine.

I've been in IT for more then 20 years. Seriosly, what the heck is so good about installing EVERYTHING that is NEW ??? I mean, I don't see a bit of difference between what you could do with Excel 97 and Excel 2007, as a regular user. I don't know what the heck is wrong with the IT community but constantly improving something just for the sake of releasing a software with the release number incremented somewhat is plane stupid.
Same goes for Linux, and mostly all software that's around. STOP upgrading constantly ! It's useless !!!!

I've been in IT for more then 20 years. Seriosly, what the heck is so good about installing EVERYTHING that is NEW ??? I mean, I don't see a bit of difference between what you could do with Excel 97 and Excel 2007, as a regular user. I don't know what the heck is wrong with the IT community but constantly improving something just for the sake of releasing a software with the release number incremented somewhat is plane stupid. Same goes for Linux, and mostly all software that's around. STOP upgrading constantly ! It's useless !!!!

I did this to provide my wife with o2007, however I noticed one bug ... it does not use the selected font for some czech, spanish and french characters (try to copy&paste czech Å¾Å¡ÄÅ™ÄÅ¥Åˆ for example).

Screw FSF-fanboys, this is great news. OOo is slow and uninspired. Gnome Office is for kids. KOffice is a bit better but I still prefer MS Office. But I already have Softmaker Office for Linux, so I'll probably bookmark this article and read it again when I upgrade my system.

Should work on Linux Mint; head over to playonlinux.com and download the Ubuntu package.

iTunes on Linux is more trouble than it's worth, I'm afraid. There's no consistent way to get it working, and with so many great media player options for the platform I don't know if hackers will make it a priority.

you may find a decent iTunes alternative depending on the features you really need from the app. CopyTransManager is one such app.

Alaukik

November 24, 2010 at 1:19 pm

gtkpod

Candive1

November 24, 2010 at 4:24 pm

I was asked the question yesterday can I use itunes on Ubuntu.
I was unsure and told the person to go to our next lug meeting.
I searched but for some reason came up empty.
I now have an answer
Thank you very much.
Chris, Supplying Technology to At Risk Students. ( STARS )

Rameshkarthickk

November 24, 2010 at 8:46 pm

I just wanted to add songs to and fro from my PC (linux).
Wanted to add videos and photos from my PC. Because rythmbox does not allow for videos and photos.

jhpot

November 17, 2010 at 10:19 pm

Should work on Linux Mint; head over to playonlinux.com and download the Ubuntu package.

iTunes on Linux is more trouble than it's worth, I'm afraid. There's no consistent way to get it working, and with so many great media player options for the platform I don't know if hackers will make it a priority.

- Linux has Windows envy. Installing Windows Fonts, using Wine to run Windows Apps, and now, installing Microsoft Office. At the same time, they hate the "Evil Microsoft". You're sending mixed signals here. For all the vindication against "Evil Microsoft", you have a conflict of interest putting Microsoft stuff in Linux.

Maybe just purchase a nice Black Friday Laptop with Windows 7 in it? That saves you from a lot of trouble. And I'm not sarcastic here, I'm serious here.

So let me help you. Go to this DealNews.com site, you'll really thank me later for this. http://goo.gl/jprTF

Justin Pot is a technology journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He loves technology, people and nature – and tries to enjoy all three whenever possible. You can chat with Justin on Twitter, right now.